Hamming It Up
by Kelekona8
Summary: My response to the June Picture Challenge at the DQMW Forum.  A modern AU, mainly humor but with a slight touch of romance.


Whew! Just barely made the word count: 1500 on the dot. I am pretty sure this is my first go at writing a modern AU of Dr. Quinn. So here is my contribution to the June picture challenge on the DQMW forum. If you want to get to the forum the link is on my profile.

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**Hamming It Up**

Michaela took a deep breath, begging God for patience.

Their town had a biannual Old West fair; it was held at the rebuilt Old West Town, which was modeled after how the town looked in the 19th century. The volunteer play company members were each given "roles" for the play they would put on during midafternoon. Afterward they would stay in character for the rest of the day, talking with and answering the questions of people frequenting the fair. Michaela had asked Dorothy why she had put her in a man's roll, and Loren and Jake in in women's – the two men standing next to her, frowning, wanting to know the answer too – and the director had simply said that Michaela made a more convincing very young man than old woman, and that the grocer and barber made more convincing old women than young men.

Loren and Jake had been rather offended and annoyed at first but then decided to make the best of it and hammed it up. They spoke in falsetto voices, batted their eyelashes ridiculously and would flirt with Michaela outrageously, sometimes on stage during the shows. Michaela still felt awkward about dressing as a man and was thankful for being mostly a background actor. However with Jake and Loren's antics she spent most of the time trying to neither burst out laughing, blush and/or swat them both, none of these being appropriate for the show, but she was trapped at her "post"; technically so were they but they took advantage of their position to tease her.

Michaela lowered her head using the brim to block her expression from the audience and gave a grin she could not stifle; then lifted her head, face composed, for a choral response. She gave an inward sigh of relief when she moved to her next position, away from the dynamic duo, knowing she could carry on with the rest of the show without further antics. However once the show was done she could only hope that it was one of the days that Loren and Jake decided that she had had enough and left her alone.

At the end the audience applauded and the actors dispersed throughout the town with the visitors.

Unfortunately for Michaela this was not one of her luckier days and she was forced to tolerate their silliness all the way to Grace's Café.

The two men left her with flirtatious good byes and went to sit at a table while Michaela moved to where Grace was cooking at the outdoor, potbelly stove, talking with another friend of theirs, Olive. Both women looked up and greeted her warmly.

"I don't know that I can do this for another week," she muttered to them.

Grace had been leaning against the counter with one hand; she raised an eyebrow and propped her free hand on her hip. "Are those two _still_ giving you a hard time?"

Michaela gave a telling wince.

Both of her friends rolled their eyes.

"I swear," Olive stated, "those two act more like little boys than grown men!"

Michaela shrugged. "I guess it's just their way of dealing with cross-dressing."

"_You_ are in the same boat!" the café owner gestured to the doctor with her dishtowel. "And _you're_ not acting like a ridiculous adolescent!"

Michaela sighed. "I'll just tell Dorothy that for spring it would probably be best if everyone stuck to their real gender."

Olive pressed her lips together in annoyance. "I'll talk to the pair and hopefully convince them to act their age and not their shoe size."

Michaela gave the cattle rancher a grateful smile before accepting a bowl of Grace's pot roast.

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Michaela truly was not having one of her better days. No matter where she went Loren and Jake always seemed to be there making a spectacle. She did her best to stay in character and not go off on them like she wanted to.

After a couple of hours she managed to lose them briefly. She gave a sigh, slumping against one of the supports for the boarding house balcony. She did not think she would make it through the rest of the day.

"S'cuse me sir, but I was wondering if you could help me?"

The warm voice curled through her; she opened her eyes to see a pair of cowboy boots which she followed up to a pair of jean clad legs, a plaid flannel covered torso, all lean and well-muscled. Finally she reached the bluest pair of eyes she had ever seen, in a face that sculptors dreamed of, with curly hair that fell to his shoulders.

She straightened up and attempted to calm her pounding heart. "What can I do for you, sir?" she made her voice gruff and as masculine as she could.

"I was wondering, if I needed to see a doctor, where might I find one?" he tilted his head to the side.

"Well, we don't have a doctor 'round here. You'd go see the barber for anything that ails you." She kept her voice calm and level.

He pursed his lips. "What if I needed to see a _real_ doctor?"

She took a deep breath. "The doctor," her voice was a little less gruff, "is helping with the fair; unless it's an emergency she's going to be working until seven o'clock."

He nodded. "Thank you very much."

"You're welcome," she told him as she watched him casually walk away.

"Yoohoo!"

"Oh, yoohoo! Young man!"

Michaela rolled her eyes to heaven, turning to face the pair, not feeling quite as short on patience as she had moments before.

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Michaela sighed happily as she scrubbed the make-up that they had used to "grunge her up" and make her more masculine, off her face. It felt so good to have her face once again clean and fresh.

"Now there's a happy sound if I ever heard one," Grace remarked as she changed into her flowing green skirt and blue blouse.

The doctor grinned at her friend. "Well if you had to spend all day with that stuff on your face."

Her friend laughed. "True, though being in those long skirts makes me appreciate how much easier we have it without those petticoats and especially those corsets."

Michaela pulled on her long, kaki skirt. "I must admit that men's clothes were easier to handle."

Olive was tucking her white button-down into her jeans. "Does it make up for Loren and Jake's ridiculousness a little bit?"

Michaela gave her a wry grin and said, "A _very_ little bit," before pulling her dark red turtleneck sweater over her head.

"Well," Olive stated, stringing her silver and turquoise belt through her jeans' loops, "at least we're half-way done. One more week."

"Oh yes," Grace agreed, twisting her hair into a more modern up-do. "And we don't have to worry about it until spring." She looked at Michaela who was putting diamond studs in her ears. "Maybe you can convince Dorothy to make you the doctor. Didn't the town have a woman doctor in the mid to late 19th century?"

"Mmm," Michaela agreed, fastening her gold cross around her neck. "Yes, and from what we have learned in the archives she had quite a rough time being accepted at first."

"Well, that was the times," Olive commented. "Women doing men's work wasn't generally welcomed."

"Indeed," Michaela agreed. "I am thankful for women like that doctor who paved the way for me in the field of medicine." She slipped on her brown flats and picked up her purse as Olive and Grace did the same.

The three of them headed out of the locker room, calling good byes to their friends. They continued to chat as they exited the gates.

"Uh oh," Grace said, a grin spreading over her face; she was looking off in a different direction than her companions. "Looks like you've already got plans for the night, Michaela."

The other two turned in the direction she indicated to see the man who had spoken to Michaela earlier, watching the young doctor with a smile on his face.

Michaela cast both of her friends a look before heading over to him.

"Excuse me ma'am, but would you happen to be the doctor? I was told she'd be getting out about now."

"Yes I am. Can I help you, sir?" she tilted her head.

"Well I was wondering if you'd be interested in having dinner with me?" he raised an eyebrow.

She looked up, pretending to think about it. "I might be amenable to that."

They held their serious faces a moment longer; then broke into wide grins.

Sully leaned down and kissed her, which she returned enthusiastically.

"Hi," he murmured.

"Hi," she returned.

"Would you two stop acting like you're _not_ married?"

They grinned sheepishly at Grace and Olive before Sully took her arm and led her off.

She looked up at him. "Thank you for coming by. I needed that."

He leaned down and kissed her. "Anytime."

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I hope that was ok! Thank you for reading and please let me know your opinion!


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